Colourful Matryoshka Doll Mani

September 14th Update: I replaced the video at the end of this post with YouTube version.I keep reminding myself that I haven't done a sponge gradient mani for a long long time. I kept stalling, telling myself 'not until I get liquid latex', but now that I have 3 liquid latex products (Crystalline Nail Veil, Protect 'n Peel & Simply Peel), I have no reason not to do it.Middle finger & ring finger: I started off with white base (JOSS Will Not) and applied topcoat. I applied Simply Peel around my cuticle area, then applied purple, pink, yellow and green on a makeup sponge and dabbled onto those nails. I repeated this step few times and peeled off Simply Peel. I topcoated to smooth out the surface, then stamped a floral pattern from BP-L018 plate with Ya Qin An White. Then, I made a stamping decal out of Matryoshka doll on the same plate, using with Ya Qin An Chocolate. I used white, pink and yellow polish to colour in then placed it onto those nails. I finished off with Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat.Thumb, pointer & pinkie: Same step for gradient. I stamped a different Matryoshka doll pattern with Ya Qin An Chocolate.I checked back my feed on Instagram, and my last sponge gradient mani was done 8 months ago (on this mani)! I almost forgot how to do it to be honest, lol. Although I wasn't 100% happy with the gradient itself, I like the overall look. Those Matryoshka dolls are so adorable.

Diamond Damask Mani Using FUN16 Plate

Sept 10th Update: I replaced the video at the end of this post with YouTube version.I'd like to start this post by mentioning a serious incident that has been caused by some nail polishes by the indie brand Mentality Nail Polish. If you have nail polishes of this brand, I recommend you stop using them immediately. It was found that some unsafe ingredients were used in some batches of their polishes that could result in serious harm to your nails and fingers. If you'd like to know in details, please read this post by The Mercurial Magpie. You'll see the actual pictures of damaged nails of those who used particular Mentality polishes. I personally don't have any of their polishes, but I'd like to alert those who do and don't know about this incident.Onto today's mani. Out of 5 beautiful plates sent to me by Fab Ur Nails (review post here), I picked FUN16 plate to create this look.Thumb, middle finger & ring finger: I started off with A-England Dancing with Nureyev (soft blue holo) or Her Rose Adagio (soft pink holo). I stamped a beautiful damask pattern on Fab Ur Nails FUN16 plate using Hit the Bottle Blue-tiful and Poison Apple. I painted black over the stamp on stamper, and waited for 40 minutes. I peeled it off, cut in diamond shape and placed it on those nails. I finished off with Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat and added two ss8 swarovski crystals I bought from Born Pretty Store.Pointer & pinkie: Same polishes as base. I added fleur-de-lis charm I bought in Japan plus some pink diamond studs (only on pointer) which I believe were gifted by MoYou London. I also used Fab Ur Nails neon pink stamper and the scraper for this mani, and I'm so happy with how well these work. There are close to 30 images on this FUN16 plate, and I really can't wait to use it again!

Fab Ur Nails Stamping Plates & Stamper Review

I recently received another amazing products from Fab Ur Nails for review. This is actually the second time Johanne, owner of Fab Ur Nails, kindly sent me her products, and you can read my first review on this post. Since that first post, Johanne has released 5 more beautiful plates which I'll be showing on this post.Before I go into the review, here are the links to Fab Ur Nails shop and SNS:

By the way, Lou from Urban Nail Art helped Johanne send these products to me this time, and she kindly added a black stamping polish from her shop for me to try out. Lou's shop is under maintenance at the moment, but hopefully she reopens it soon.

This is what the sponge buffer looks like. You can use this item to prime (lightly buff) the stamper if it doesn't pick up images. It's double-sided and both very fine, but the white side has finer grit than the turquoise side.

Scraper is 5cm x 6cm and is smaller than a normal credit card size scraper. The cute printing won't degrade with acetone as it's printed inside. This one is hardly bendable and the stiffness is close to that of a credit card. I actually really like this! I'm not a big fan of very flexible scraper, but this one is for me. Size is not too big and not too small, and it's perfect.

Onto stampers. Stampers come with gold stamper holder (shown on this post) which I totally adore. 2 stampers in the top row are what I received, and the bottom left is also a Fab Ur Nail stamper I received in March. Bottom right is Messy Mansion soft pink head for comparison. Johanne told me this black one is just a sample and is not on her shop at the moment.

And the performance? Yes, they do pick up images so fabulously, just like the translucent one. This is WITHOUT priming by the way. Stamping plate is Dashica Infinity 70 and stamping polish is Mundo de Uñas Cream.

And here's the result on paper. The top row is done with neon pink stamper, and the bottom row is done with black. If you are looking for a quality stamper, you can't go wrong with Fab Ur Nails stampers.

Moving onto stamping polish. As I said before, this is not from Fab Ur Nails, but from Urban Nail Art. UNA stamping polishes are all 5-free, and come in 12ml (9 AUD) and 8ml (7 AUD). No abnormal smell to it, and it's very nice and opaque.

This is FUN16. Love love love this one! It has everything from geometrics, flowers, damask, etc. Plate itself is 14.5cm x 9.5cm, and full size images are 2.2cm x 1.6cm, as with the rest of the plates I show here.

There you have it! My hands were quite a state after all the swatching, but it was totally worth it. I'm so in awe with the quality of each and every single one of Fab Ur Nails products. I have never had or heard about the trouble with Johanne's products, and they are one of the best on market. I really can't wait to start playing with them!
そんな感じで、紙swatchが終わる頃には手がすごいことになってしまいましたが、今回も頑張りました。Fab Ur Nailsの製品は１つ１つがどれも完成度が高く、品質に問題があったという経験もそういう話を見聞きしたことも一度もありません。スタンピング市場で最上位クラスの品質と言っていいと思います。これから少しずつ使っていくのが楽しみです。

*Products sent for honest review
*記事中の製品はレビュー目的で送っていただいたものです

Stained Glass Flowers Mani

Sept 5th Update: I replaced the video at the end of this post with YouTube version.Out of 10 beautiful plates Harunouta sent me (as seen in this post), the first plate I grabbed was BP-L020, a lace plate.I started off with Dance Legend Steel Panther, and applied Simply Peel around my cuticle for easy cleanup. I stamped a lacy floral pattern from BP-L020 using Ya Qin An Black stamping polish and peeled off Simply Peel. Then, I leadlighted with my homemade jellies with a dotting tool and finished off with Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat. You can see how I made these jellies on this post. For pinkie, I simply added SS8 swarovski crystals on top of the base.I did two stained glass manis before (here and here), and used DL Steel Panther both times. It's so sparkly, I really can't think of any better polish for this look. I'm so glad I could take photos of this mani in full sun!

Ya Qin An Stamping Polishes & hehe/BP/Y Plates Review

Harunouta spoiled me once again by sending me some stamping supplies. This time I received Ya Qin An stamping polishes and hehe/BP/Y stamping plates. I have done a similar review not long time ago on this post, so please go have a look if you're interested.

This is what I received. Ya Qin An stamping polishes, hehe plates, BP-L plates, BP plate, and Y plate. Not shown here but there were few missing items that arrived later as a second package. I'll include those items in this post as well.

I'll show you Ya Qin An polishes first. There was a change in the bottle size and these are 18ml each. The last batch I received before was 15ml. I fell in love with these Ya Qin An polishes when I reviewed them before, so I asked for quite a bit this time. The product page is here and here.

And here's the paper swatch of each colour on black and white. From left - #14 (pastel yellow), #16 (light gray), #17 (navy), #20 (pastel blue). All the polishes are only labelled with number and no name. The plates I used for the test is Dashica Infinity 70 as always.
そしてこれが黒と白の上での紙swatch。左から - #14 (パステルイエロー), #16 (ライトグレー), #17 (ネイビー), #20 (パステルブルー)。すべて番号だけで名前は付いていません。使用したプレートはいつものDashica Infinity 70。

Then White on black paper and Black on white paper. The Black was a bit thicker than others and were slightly hard to work with. I'll probably add some drops of thinner later.
それから、白の上にBlack、黒の上にWhiteをスタンプ。Blackは他のよりも少しもったり気味で若干スタンプしにくかったです。あとで薄め液を投入する予定。

This Black is really opaque, the full image remains on the stamper even AFTER I stamped on paper.
このBlack、テキスチャーがかなり濃くて紙にスタンプした後も柄がそのまんまスタンパーに残りました。しゃばしゃばなポリッシュではこうはなりません。

For three of the colours except for black, white and navy, I pulled out my Mundo de Uñas polishes for comparison. From left - Ya Qin An #14, Mundo de Uñas Cream, Mundo de Uñas Pastel Yellow. Ya Qin An leans toward more yellow than MdU Cream, but not as quite as yellow as MdU Pastel Yellow.

Next up is light gray/taupe. From left - Ya Qin An #16, Mundo de Uñas Light Gray, Mundo de Uñas Taupe. When I first looked at this Ya Qin An #16, I thought this might be quite similar to MdU Taupe, but not so much. It definitely has a taupe hue compared to MdU Light Gray though.

Lastly, light blue. From left - Ya Qin An #20, Mundo de Uñas Lavendar, Mundo de Uñas Blue Gray. I'm glad that they are all completely different.
最後にライトブルー。左から - Ya Qin An #20、Mundo de Uñas Lavendar、Mundo de Uñas Blue Gray。どれもまったく違うのでちょっと嬉しい。As I expected, these Ya Qin An polishes stamp great and I really love them. I'm so keen to get every one of them on the site. Not stated on the website, but I checked and found out that they are 3-free, which is a bonus. I didn't mention in my last review post, but the dry time on these is relatively fast. You might want to work quickly so that the polish doesn't dry out on stamper. Smell isn't bad, and I actually quite like it. Texture is similar to Mundo de Uñas polishes, but not overly thick and easy to work with, except Black. Also 'a little goes a long way' applies to these polishes as well.

Paper swatch of BP-L018 plate. Swatch is done with either Ya Qin An Purple, Chocolate, and #17 (navy). Stampers used are either Messy Mansion rectangle or Fab Ur Nails round. Images on the top two rows are 1.9cm x 1.4cm in size. I did the elephant few times because the head keeps cutting off. Not the etching problem, just my mistake. All images stamp great.

Lastly Y004, fruit plate. I love that these are outline stamps that I can colour in. It stamps superb as you can see.

最後に果物プレートのY004。色付けできるようになっているのがいいですね。細い線でも綺麗にスタンプしています。

No etching problems are found on those plates. It's great that Harunouta sells high quality plates for an affordable price. They are all available on Born Pretty Store as well, except hehe plates. Harunouta has started worldwide shipping, so if you have a chance (and don't mind the website is in Japanese), why not have a peek? You can use my code 'CPM10' to get 10% discount (excluding sale items).